Fake Princess
CHAPTER 96
One day later, we were stowed in an almost empty sitting room at Brown Tail, a more somber inn than any other inn we had been to on our way to Siderros. Despite that, we decided to avoid places that might be chosen by a noble man and his little sister, he said, just in case my spell fails and Siderros decides to send the horsemen looking for their grave robbers.
“ So,” Devan said after biting his dubious-looking meat pie, “ what do we get in this great adventure?”
Devan's cheerful soul didn't have to wait for a long time to return when we were already on the road and there was no visible pursuit. Devan was convinced that the message we left, telling me my sudden desire to examine the cave where the first diviner had his first prophecy as the reason for our departure at night, would not attract attention. “ Scientists are like that,” said devan. “ They won't think of anything.”
While I was scared during the trip, I often glanced back until Devan asked me if my neck hurt. I was worried about the impact of my spell on the monk, and was afraid of being caught by the religious people who were chasing us. I worry about the meaning of everything we find, and about the prophecy given to me by the present fortune-teller.
However, now I stretch my fingers out on the table to count the important points. “ We know that the soothsayer gave a false prophecy to the king and queen, a prophecy that will make them hide the real Diana and take her place with others. There was no chance of the princess being killed in Thorvaldor Hall. That means whether the fortune teller conspired or was influenced by Omar and Melani. But I think the fortune-teller was involved, because he felt guilty. He knew his actions were wrong, and it haunted him to death. We know that one of us—Diana, Riana, or I— might die if we try to find the real daughter.”
“ That's debatable,” sela Devan. “ Not all forecasts come true.”
I put my shoulders down. I managed not to continue to dissolve in our discovery, at least because my attention was distracted trying to find out which witch most likely persuaded the fortune teller to help her. But it kept on engulfing my mind, ready to attack if I let my mind drift.
“ But how can we find out, without coming to them and asking them, ‘so, was the sister of the fortune teller who betrayed Thorvaldor?’ I guess, maybe, it could make them suspicious.”
I drank my tea and smiled grimly. “ The palace library keeps records regarding all the noble families in Thorvaldor—all deaths and all births, even the bloodlines of lowly nobles. So it definitely belongs to their family.”
“ But what about Omar?”
“ He's a member of the Ostralus family. They were given degrees when Omar became the head of the campus. She must have been listed there too.”
Six days later, in the afternoon, we returned to V. I ducked over the saddle as we approached the South Gate, but the guards in the city fortress only glanced at us a glance before allowing a pass. I had already half-waited for the guards to hold us back because of our desperate actions to Siderros, so I exhaled a sigh of relief while crowing the gate.
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